I changed the foundation paper pattern a little bit so there would only be 4 middle sections instead of 8 like the original, and got a bunch of them printed up at Kinko’s (I see another one of these in my future).

I took it up to Virginia to Ursula the Longarm and quilted it with a meandering heart pattern in golden yellow thread. It’s backed in a Flea Market Fancy (re)print and some pale yellow dots, labeled, and machine bound in a grey with yellow dots.

Erin’s comment was “I love this times a million!” so I’d say it was well received :)

The day after the quilt was given, Erin went into labor and Lucy was born on October 24th. Good timing!

A friend of mine commissioned a quilt from me and wanted a sneak peek in time for Christmas, so I whipped up this pillow.I used the Arkansas Traveler quilt block as shown on Freshly Pieced, though I changed it a little to eliminate the additional seams in the background. I used the few yellows I have in my stash, Free Spirit solid cosmic blue (the quilt will use assorted greys), and a couple fabrics from my stash for the back with a label and exposed zipper.

Two pairs of friends moved away in the last couple months and I wanted to make gifts for the both of them. Jess and Ryan left North Carolina for Portland, Oregon (a place I’d love to join them one day!) so I made them a pillow from 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars, a combination of North Carolina star and an Oregon star in blues and greens from my stash.

I outline quilted parts of it in light grey thread

and backed it in a cute umbrella print I got from a friend with an exposed zipper. It fits an 18″ pillow form.

Sam and Amanda, whom I also made this quilt for, left us for Grand Rapids, Michigan so I made them a star from, as you probably guessed, part North Carolina and Michigan.The print on the border of the front, from Pat Bravo’s Indie line or Art Gallery Fabrics, is one I used in Amanda’s quilt so I pulled colors from there and mimicked the design in the quilting, too.

It’s backed in a Joel Dewberry print, has an exposed zipper, and fits a 16″ pillow form.

These are both in their new homes and I hope they will be loved very much!

I love making these stars so much. I think it might be time to make myself a pillow with them! Or maybe a small quilt of all the places I’ve lived.

I made this Frankenstein pincushion for my friend Ian for his birthday this week. I found some images online and made a small paper piecing pattern and put it together in a couple hours. Ian has a space in the same studio as I do and makes these awesome stuffed alien creatures, and until now, his poor little straight pins just hung out in a box. He is also into science fiction and horror and the like so this seemed like the perfect gift. Happy birthday Ian!

I’m excited to show my first three finishes of 2012! My best friend Catherine commissioned me to make three quilts for her nieces, aged 13, 6, and 2 months, and I finally delivered them to her this last weekend. (I apologize for the pictures, Caitlin was oh so kind enough to help me out but it was windy and the sun was really bright so the lighting is a little off.)

She let me do whatever I wanted which is both exciting and a little overwhelming. So I pulled some pre-cuts and fabrics from the stash and went for it!This zig zag quilt is made with a charm pack of Tula Pink’s Plume, a couple coordinating prints from my stash, and FreeSpirit in manatee (my favorite grey, left over from my Single Girl quilt). I was inspired this quilt on Pinterest and am really happy with the end result, though it seems so tame compared to the following two!The back is Dots in pink flannel from Urban Flannel by Valori Wells, I quilted it in an echoing zig zag pattern with dark grey thread, and it’s bound in a pale pink stripe from my stash. I drew my own templates for the letters and pieced her name on the back, surrounded it in yellow to make the backing wide enough, and added a label.

The second quilt is made with a jelly roll of Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom and some coordinating solids from my stash in a square within a square pattern that I love!I backed it in Diamond Mine flannel in sweet from Folksy Flannels by Anna Maria Horner and again, quilted it in an orange peel pattern (inspired by Sew Katie Did, which I’m also pretty in love with) in a pale yellow thread, and bound it in light yellow with a small scrap or Kona berry. Like I said, I’m pretty in love with this quilt and will definitely be making myself one in this pattern.

The last one is definitely the craziest and took the whole process to grow on me. When I finally washed it and photographed it, I realized that I’m actually quite pleased. It will suit the girl, which is the most important thing.

It is a disappearing nine patch pattern that I made with my stash of Denyse Schmidt fabrics. I wish I had been a little more careful in my fabric selection and maybe incorporated some solids or something but it is what it is and like I said, I kind of like it.It’s backed with roses in pink from Urban Flannel by Valori Wells flannel, quilted in a diagonal cross hatch pattern with pale grey thread, bound in a couple different blue DS Quilts fabrics, and labelled.

For the record, I paper pieced the names from letters I drew myself. I’ve only designed a couple paper piecing patterns (sewing machine seen here and here) but I start with paper roughly the size I want the block to be and with a ruler, draw from the outside in, in a spiral motion until I make the shapes I want and get to the middle, and then I number it from the inside out. I don’t know if that makes any sense but that’s the best I can explain it! Maybe one day I’ll make a little video tutorial and show you.

Anyway, I can’t wait for the girls to receive their gifts. I hope they love them and get many years of warmth and comfort from them.

I was pretty close to finishing a couple things last year so I’m hurrying along to get a finish (or three) onto my 2012 list.

I started my Farmer’s Wife blocks and I’m in love! They are Bat Wing (#5) and Basket Weave (#4). I plan on paper piecing them, unless some other method makes more sense (such as Basket Weave which was strip pieced). I like to think I will make more than two a week but it will probably even out that way.

While I was away in Kentucky, my wonderful swap package arrived. It was such a great thing to come back to!

Heather of Fiberosity made me a gorgeous mini quilt with paper pieced stars from Carol Doak’s 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars (she blogged about it here). It’s a book Amanda talked about in her class at the Sewing Summit, after which I put it in my Barnes & Noble shopping cart where it sat, until I received this quilt. Now I can’t wait to make lots of amazing stars!

Heather made four different ones and I love them all! The quilt is just perfect. But then not only that, she also sent along some out of print Heather Ross fabrics!!

I can’t wait to fussy cut them and make something lovely. Those matryoshka dolls make me squeal :) Thank you so much, Heather for your wonderful gift!